


Things We Lost in the Fire

by ConniptionCrazy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, First house, Fluffy, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Song Inspired, they're married okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-02-28
Packaged: 2018-01-14 01:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1246960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConniptionCrazy/pseuds/ConniptionCrazy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles and Derek are moving into their first house together when Derek finds something he'd forgotten about. Maybe it's time to share this part of his past with Stiles, too.</p>
<p>(Inspired by the song of the same name by Bastille.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things We Lost in the Fire

It was a Saturday morning, around nine o’clock, and Stiles had just climbed the stairs to the bedroom of his and Derek’s new house.

“That’s the last of it.” Stiles grinned, dusting off his hands as he set the box down.

He was moving in with Derek. His boyfriend. Like, serious boyfriend. Which was about the most awesome thing to happen in his life so far, aside from getting together with Derek in the first place. As of that box, they’d just finished moving into their place on the outskirts of Beacon Hills.

Like real adults or something. It almost made Stiles laugh.

“We’re officially… Moved… In. Derek?” Stiles asked hesitantly.

Derek was sitting on the bed of their new bedroom, forearms on his thighs, bent over a piece of paper in his hand. It looked like it had been folded and unfolded and refolded over and over, many times, until it was fragile and extremely rip-able. Stiles could see that there was writing on it, the light shining through the paper and the ink or graphite blocking it out.

“What’s that?” Stiles asked gently. The look on Derek’s face was something new and different that Stiles had never seen before, and he wasn’t sure how to approach it.

“These are the things.” Derek murmured vaguely, as if he was in a dream. “The things we lost.” He cleared his throat, finally seeming to come back to himself. “The things we lost in the fire.”

_Oh._

Stiles came forward, sitting down on the bed next to Derek. He kept his eyes on Derek’s face, unsure if he was welcome to read the paper. But Derek didn’t push him away, and after a moment, he looked up and even moved to pass the paper to Stiles.

Stiles took it. After a second of searching Derek’s eyes, making sure this was okay, he looked down, eyes flicking over the page as he read.

_House_

_Home_

_Pack_

_Clothes_

_Photos_

_Dad’s books_

_Mom’s violin_

_Butterfly collection_

_The blue dress_

_Hamlet_

_CDs_

_The winter quilt_

_HOPE pillow_

_Brand_

_Feathers_

_Sketchbook_

_Oak table_

And it went on. Stiles couldn’t help but skip to the bottom of the list, where there seemed to be new writing, in a different hand than the rest of the list. Derek’s handwriting.

_Laura_

_Erica_

_Boyd_

_Peter_

Stiles swallowed and looked away, looked to Derek, passing the list back. While the first and last few things were obvious, he was sure that every single item on it had a story behind them. Maybe some day, Derek would share those stories with him. Stiles wouldn’t expect him to share something like that now.

Which was why he was so surprised when, without prompting, Derek began to explain.

“When Laura and I got to New York, she started reading a lot of self-help books. She wasn’t- she wasn’t that sort of person, but we needed something to hang on to. She was my… anchor. She was trying to live up to that, I think.” Derek smoothed his fingers over the list. “And one of the books said that we should do something like this, together. So we sat down and we made the list.”

Stiles watched Derek swallow and laid a hand on his forearm, rubbing his thumb back and forth. It seemed to embolden Derek to continue.

“Dad had a huge library in his study. Laura and I would always get into trouble, climbing the shelves, stupid things. And mom- mom had a violin. She never played it, but it was sort of a source of pride for her, I guess. It meant a lot to her.” Derek swallowed again. “I found the neck of it, but- there was no point to keeping it. Not at the time.

“And then- I collected butterflies, when I was a kid. It was a challenge, you know? To catch them without hurting them, that sort of thing. It kept me busy.”

Stiles wanted to say how cool that was, how awesomely nerdy past-Derek was. But he was afraid that saying something might break the spell, so he waited, eagerly, for Derek to continue.

“Laura had this blue dress. She loved that damn dress. One time, she stepped on the hem and tore a hole in it. Cried for a week before mom found one just like it.” Derek was grinning. “It was the stupidest thing ever, but I teased her about it for- I don’t know. The rest of her-” He cut himself off, stopped. Then he plowed on ahead. “I lost my copy of Hamlet, and she lost her CDs.

“Peter’s wife made this quilt for everyone while she was pregnant. It was the most beautiful thing, Stiles.” Derek breathed. “It must have taken her forever. We always used it, whether we were cold or not. She had to repair it like five times because we wore holes in the stitching.”

Stiles leaned into Derek, hoping to give him the strength to keep going, if he so chose. Victory came a second later.

“There was a throw pillow Cora made in home ec. Shittiest embroidery ever, but mom was so proud of her that she put the pillow on the sofa and didn’t let anyone move it. Like, ever.” Derek was grinning again, so Stiles figured he was okay. For now. “I used to collect feathers, too. Laura lost her sketchbook. And we had this big oak kitchen table where the whole pack could fit around. It was great.”

“Why’d you keep the list?” Stiles asked softly.

Derek half-shrugged. “A reminder? I don’t know. It was another thing to cling to. I read it a lot, especially while Laura was gone. I don’t think she knew I still had it.” He shook his head. “We knew we’d never be the same, though. There were things we lost that weren’t… physical things.”

“Yeah.” Stiles hummed. He knew what Derek meant. “Are you still going to keep it?”

Derek thought for a long moment, staring down at the paper without really seeing it.

“No.” He said finally. “No. I have better things to hold onto now.” Derek looked to Stiles, the corner of his mouth twitching up slightly.

Stiles kissed him softly. Derek would never have to lose anything ever again, not anymore.

The paper fluttered to the ground and into a patch of sunlight as Derek and Stiles fell back onto the bed, Derek rolling on top of him to grind their bodies together while they kissed.

It was a Saturday morning, around nine o’clock, and Derek felt at last that it was time to let go.

-Finis-

**Author's Note:**

> I heard the song and I couldn't stop thinking about this idea. The fic could use a little polishing, in my opinion, but I still like it. Anywho. Thanks for reading, guys.


End file.
